At launch, the Intel 600p was a controversial SSD. The largest model alleviates endurance concerns and delivers the highest performance in the series. The 600p 1TB SSD sells for hundreds less than other 1TB NVMe products, and that makes it very attractive for gamers that require high capacities to accommodate large game libraries.

There isn't a shortage of low-cost NVMe solutions--you can get a taste of NVMe performance for as low as $75. The companies churning out products reads like a who's who of the storage industry, and new products seem to surface every few weeks. Unfortunately, there aren't many high-capacity NVMe SSDs on the menu. Low-cost high-capacity NVMe SSDs are rare as companies struggle to balance a NAND shortage with the limited space available on the M.2 form factor. At the time of writing, the Intel 600p is the only sub-$400 1TB NVMe SSD on the market.

This isn't the first time we've tested the 600p series. When the 600p came to market, our initial review was derailed with misleading product specification data and outdated end-of-life behavior. The worst part? We had confirmation to all the above--even though it was wrong. Over time, we peeled back the 600p's layers to get to the facts. We learned that the first entry-level NVMe SSD is a tantalizing upgrade option if you have the other pieces in place to run the next generation NVMe storage protocol. However, we should have realistic performance expectations. The saying "you get what you pay for" applies to the 600p. The low-priced model offers weak NVMe performance but sells at a SATA price point. The two high capacity models blow well past the limits of SATA but cost only slightly more than a high-performance SATA SSD.

The 600p ships with the M.2 2280 (22mmx80mm) form factor. Intel managed to pack all of the surface mount components on one side. That doesn't mean much for most of us, but it means quite a bit if you have a notebook that requires a single-sided M.2 SSD.

The 600p 1TB delivers the highest performance and endurance of the series and delivers up to 1,800/560 MB/s of sequential read/write performance. Random performance peaks at 155,000/128,000 read/write IOPS. The 600p's performance sits on the lower end of the scale compared to other 1TB NVMe products, but we shouldn't compare it to high-performance NVMe SSDs.

The Samsung 850 Pro and SanDisk Extreme PRO are the two fastest SATA SSDs ever made. At one time, you could find these drives for as low as $225. Those days are long gone. The supply of high-performance MLC NAND has largely disappeared. You may be surprised to learn that the Samsung 850 Pro 1TB now retails for $465 and the SanDisk Extreme PRO sells for an astounding $649! I don't see those prices coming down anytime soon. SATA isn't at the end of its life for the industry, but for enthusiasts, it's already in the ground as a boot drive. The Intel 600p is one of the products that put it there.

The 600p 1TB uses an odd controller alignment. The Silicon Motion, Inc. SM2260 is a dual-core eight-channel controller, but due to IMFT's odd 384Gbit NAND density, Intel was only able to utilize six of the eight available channels.

Pricing And Accessories

The Intel 600p 1TB currently sells for $349.99 online, which is half the price of some high-performance 1TB-class NVMe SSDs. Other 1TB products fill the gap between $350 and $700, but the 600p is the cheapest NVMe option available.

Warranty And Endurance

The Intel 600p 1TB ships with a five-year warranty limited by the amount of data you write to the drive. Endurance numbers vary by the type of data written, but JEDEC has developed methods and tools that define the industry standard. The 600p 1TB features a 576 TBW rating. The 600p transitions into a read-only state when the SSD exhausts the spare area, which we covered in this article.

Packaging

Prod_004

Prod_005

Prod_006

Prod_007

Prod_004

Prod_005

Prod_006

Prod_007

Intel doesn't print much information about the product on the package. The information doesn't give retail shoppers a reason to choose the 600p over other products. Inside the package, we found the drive, a cardboard filler that keeps it in place, and a paper manual.

A Closer Look

Prod_004

Prod_005

Prod_006

Prod_007

Prod_004

Prod_005

Prod_006

Prod_007

The Intel 600p 1TB employs an odd configuration that confines components to one side of the PCB. The six-channel controller addresses three NAND packages that house the Intel 384Gbit TLC NAND die.

I'll consider one....it looks like a notch up from my 500GB m.2 EVO in my laptop, so could slot in nicely for a desktop build. I'm still enamored by SSD speeds so even if it's just "a little" faster than SSDs but same price point that's a win in my book.

Brian_R170

I wonder where the price of the 600p would fall if there wasn't a global NAND shortage. $350+ is hard to swallow. I saw the 1TB 600p for $289 shortly after the 1TB version became became available last fall. I even purchased a 500GB 600p from Newegg for $129 around the same time. At least that's SATA-like pricing for SATA-like peformance.

eglass

The NAND shortage blows. The performance of this should really put this closer to the $300 price point.

That green PCB has got to go too. Would look like trash on my black board with blue sinks.

BrownRecluse27

I have had the 600p for 4 months now I got it on sale for 300$ on Newegg and I love it. I use it as my boot drive and it easily holds all my games

Akai Miru

I looked up a couple of them the new ones from Samsung are as cheap now tho

Same here. I've had my 1TB 600p for months and I love it. Seems fast. I also have a pair of 1TB EVO 850's in RAID 0 in the same PC and I can't tell any difference in the speed.

Co BIY

Question for the reviewers.

Will I be able to notice a difference in storage performance between NVMe and SATA SSDs during normal work tasks or while gaming ?

Would I notice a difference in performance between the low end SATA SSDs and the high end SATA SSDs ?

barryv88

Cheap but pathetic performance, yet this drive gets an award? Please...Samsung and AMD lately has Intel by the balls, yet it just seems so desperate and deliberate that THG tries its utter best to prove that this company is still all jolly good and honkedory, even though intel has been dragging its feet for a while now.I take this review with a pinch of salt.

CRamseyer

It's the second lowest award possible!

Here is what you missed. It's faster than a Samsung 850 Pro and SanDisk Extreme PRO (1TB class) in consumer-focused workloads and costs less.

I don't deliver grains of salt. I'll tie ya down to a chair and pour the big water softener pellets in until you get it

barryv88

1888934 said:

It's the second lowest award possible!
Here is what you missed. It's faster than a Samsung 850 Pro and SanDisk Extreme PRO (1TB class) in consumer-focused workloads and costs less.
I don't deliver grains of salt. I'll tie ya down to a chair and pour the big water softener pellets in until you get it

Dig your sarcasm Look, lets be honest here. Where's THG's consistency? Ryzen came out. Turned out to be a well received and important product world wide, scooping up awards left and right - especially in terms of value, just like you've pointed out with this article. But wait, lets scroll to the bottom of the conclusion pages and..... whats this? No reward to the Ryzen reviews? Not even for its value? Hmmmm. Why does the word 'bias' suddenly pop up in my head? I wonder...

alidan

2012116 said:

Question for the reviewers.
Will I be able to notice a difference in storage performance between NVMe and SATA SSDs during normal work tasks or while gaming ?
Would I notice a difference in performance between the low end SATA SSDs and the high end SATA SSDs ?

The answer is hard to say. the 600p is a piece of steaming crap, I was going to get one for my new build, till I was directed to look into a crucial MX300, and shock of all shocks, the crucial is better in many aspects preformance wise.

I would love some normal sata ssds in reviews like this, because honestly, there is a limit to how much speed impacts performance, somewhere around 400-500mb, outside of unicorn applications/games or workloads built for fast read/write, there is very little difference between even good nvme drives and sata drives. I just wish there were more sources to find out what is the best for my purpose. at some point in the future, I will likely get a nvme drive, its hard to ignore them when I regularly use an application that would benefit from it, but not for 350$ a tb for one thats worse than sata, and not 400+ for one that is only one tb

Maybe when you posted that link, but it's $479 today. Holy fluctuation, Batman!

500 now

Arjuna79

No fumbling with SATA cables.No messing with another molex to SATA connector to power this thing.No suffering to activate AHCI drivers, no messing with Registry hacks either.

I'm sold on this little guy.

I'm coming from a long overdue upgrade, where I'm dealing with 90 MB/s spinning rust hard drives... so this thing is infinitely faster than whatever I had. Native TLC NAND speeds or not.

After being strapped for cash buying a Kaby Lake rig, that NVMe socket will be empty for a while, unless you plop one of these in and take advantage of it as a boot drive... why not?

In fact, I still have a 60GB corsair Force 3 SSD... that may not even be slower than this thing, but it only barely fits Windows itself in it, let alone any game (hello GTA, WoW...)

This drive makes perfect sense, not taking physical space, having a decent capacity, and not being the fastest thing in town, trading speed for price.

JacFlasche

Only 1TB NVMe on the market for less than $400? I was at Frys a month ago and they were selling Samsung 960 PRO 1TB NVMe with a ten year warranty for $300.Guess that blows your price theory all to heck.

CRamseyer

They weren't selling a 960 Pro 1TB at Fry's a month ago for $300 with a 10-year warranty. That was an 850 Pro and that drive now costs $479. The flash shortage is in full swing now so SSD prices are up. TrendForce just released a document that says they're tracking a 36% price increase across the board. Prices will continue to rise until at least Q1 2018. Expect crazy prices later this year!